My good friends ATLASt (Warren Handley) and Archi Lancaster (Joe Baker) have been orchestrating finely tuned visuals for Morass parties since the very beginnings. Integral members of the Dank, these cats create a live visual manipulation of hand picked digital video samples and creations.

Using midi pads and knobs and a couple of sets of ears, they respond spontaneously to changes in the music by running the visuals through filters and mashing textures together. These dudes never fail in keeping their visuals sinister and dank like the beats themselves. This video from The Gaslamp Killer show in Brisbane perfectly illustrates Warren and Joe’s work at Dank parties.

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Both Warren and Joe are artists in their own right who work with a variety of artistic mediums and concepts.

A combination of raw illustration skills, a laptop and an open mind make for Joe Baker‘s innovative work. Joe has designed a fair chunk of our flyers over the past 2 years.

These flyers are only a sample of Joe’s design skills. He is also accomplished illustrator, video and conceptual artist. These are some further examples of his work.

Dank Morass is excited to present the debut Brisbane show for the hottest DJ in the world of beats and bass – The Gaslamp Killer. A founder of LA’s acclaimed weekly Low End Theory club, the GLK’s lateral crate-digging through dusty psychedelia, classic hip hop, cutting edge beats and heavy dubstep is unparalleled. With the spirit of the West Coast psychedelic movement of the 60s and the current manifestation of the beat generation running strong in his blood, the GLK will lay waste to the main room of the Step Inn on Saturday March 6.

Moving between San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles, The Gaslamp Killer made a name worldwide with mind-boggling mixes such as I Spit On Your Grave and Hell And The Lake of Fire are Waiting For You. Closely affiliated with Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder collective, he released a debut EP, My Troubled Mind on that label in 2009. A whirlwind of rumbling bass and psych-rock edits, the EP is just one weapon in the GLK’s diverse arsenal of bass.

Low End Theory, which The GLK curates with fellow residents Daddy Kev, D-Styles and Nobody, has been hailed as the international headquarters for raw and soulful hip hop, psychedelic beats, glitch-hop, avant-rap, IDM and dubstep. The Gaslamp Killer is absolutely at the forefront of the thrilling collision of these disparate but complementary sounds.

In support, the Morass presents a rare Brisbane DJ set for Elgusto. One half of premier Australian beats duo Hermitude and producer for Herd-frontman Urthboy, Gusto has played leading bass nights Void and Headroom in his adopted hometown of Sydney. Favourites of Japan’s legendary DJ Krush, Hermitude have dropped three albums of world-class beats on the Elefant Traks label, most recently the sublimely composed Threads.

Nomadic Brisbanite Tigermoth will perform tracks off his haunting solo debut Underwater Beats and preview music from a new album. Equally influenced by US and Japanese hip-hop, Tigermoth weaves an abstract, instrumental soundscape backed by orchestrated beats in a mix evocative of Tokyo’s industrial landscape and Australia’s natural milieu.

Rounding out this top shelf line-up is local live dubstep duo Science Project, whohave been toiling away in the lab for months, concocting unhurried heaters that are brought to life with drum kit and MPC on stage, and Syntax, playing original bass heavy hip hop beats.

Additional atmospherics will be provided by the Dank Morass DJs Walrii, Swob and Danck. The Morass has been DJing and promoting beats in Brisbane since late 2007, and has previously hosted Flying Lotus, Starkey, The Bug, Joker, Coki & Loefah and Blu & Exile.

The swarthy Dank Morass crew have reached deep into Davy Jones’ locker to bring you bilge rats the finest leviathans of bass-heavy mayhem! Prepare to be keelhauled by our fearless selectors as they take you 20,000 leagues under the dank with a booty of dubstep, jungle, dnb, hiphop and ye olde futurebeats.

Heading up the fleet is the captain of Australia’s premier dubstep label Aquatic Lab Records – direct from Sydney Town, the one and only FARJ. Making his debut appearance at a Dank Morass party, Farj has been at the helm of Australian dubstep and garage since day dot. Along with Paul Fraser, he hosts weekly radio show Garage Pressure on Sydney’s FBI and has been responsible for bringing some of the biggest names in dubstep out to Australia. Aquatic Lab Records has reached world-class status as a dubstep label unleashing beats from the likes of Seven, Caspa, Rusko, Zed Bias and Cotti. Word on the seven seas is there are plans in the ballast for a sister label due to drop later this year. Of course, it goes without saying that this corsair has schooners of unreleased dubs from a who’s who of producers making any type of music suffixed with the word ‘step’.

But thats not all the loot we’ve got for ye scurvy dogs! The Morass is incredibly excited to have onboard once again the formidable combination of ERTHER and DREADKNOWLEDGE. These pirates have been plundering record stores and rocking taverns for many a moonless night now, and are packing longboats of nothing but the dopest jungle, dnb and dubstep. Fire in the hole! Of course, a Dank soiree would not be complete without the blood-curdling, swashbuckling sounds of SWOB, DANCK and WALRII. This will be Swob’s last Dank Morass appearance for 3-4 months as he prepares to set sail for foreign lands bountiful with gold, rum and women.

Anchors away from 9pm on Saturday 23rd May upstairs at the Step Inn. And it won’t cost you all your pieces of eight either – just $5 before 10pm or $10 after. Yo-ho yo-ho, a bass heavy night indeed!

Capping off a massive week for the Morass (supports for Russ Jones, El-P, Concord Dawn and the inaugural Scuba Tank at Rumpus Room plus an all in mix on 4ZzZ’s Baron Oneway Show) is the Brisbane debut of Philadelphia street bass don Starkey!

Very special support from one of Australia’s leading dubstep producers, 3rd Eye (Sub Continental Dub) plus a rare set from the man like Funkedub, instrumental grime and bass from Suckafish and new beats from Science Project. Dank Morass DJs Walrii and Swob hold it down for the home team.

A measly $15 on the door to catch the leading stateside innovator of the scene they sometimes call dubstep, but really incorporates a whole lot more. It goes down upstairs at The Step Inn, corner of Brunswick St and St Paul’s Tce, Fortitude Valley.

And you don’t stop! Dank Morass and White Rhino are stoked to present Bristol young gun, Joker, at Barsoma on Saturday 6 December. Known for his electrifying lead synth lines and subterranean bottom end, Joker was hand-picked by Hyperdub don Kode 9 as his successor for Mary-Ann Hobbs’ Generation Bass sessions – check out the video of his set from MAH’s YouTube channel:

Joker’s wax releases have been some of the most sought after in dubstep, from the mind-bending Gully Brook Lane through to his recent collaboration with Rustie, “Play Doe”, which sold out within moments of becoming available. He’s been given props by everyone from Pinch to N-Type, and his self-described ‘jheri-curl boogie’ fuses the propulsive energy of grime, ecstatically sleazy synths and serious bass pressure.

Support from Frosty (Hard Graft), Walrii, Swob, Arku, Lone Pariah and Danck. $10 on the door from 9pm, with dank visuals for your optical delectation.

Following on from a hectic four days on the road with Hermitude and Horrorshow (big ups to Gusto, Dubs, Solo and Adit) and a manic audience with Hudmo at Barsoma, Morass celebrates one year of dropping dank beats in public with a night of bass and beats upstairs at the Step Inn, featuring the Morass in a b2b extravangaza, special guests Strife, Insidious and Audio Opticon of Adelaide’s Shadowplay massive and the man arguably responsible for unleashing us on the world with his weekly open decks nights back in 07, Operon.